Imagine that a new wine store just opened in the Twin Cities. It has a well-rounded selection of about 800 wines, hundreds more craft beers and a fine liquor selection. Its cheese shop is stocked with 100-plus artisanal cheeses, gourmet salts, cured meats, all manner of oils and preserves, and baguettes from Salty Tart. An XM jazz station plays overhead, a Venice canal-scape adorns one of the walls and the knowledgeable staff is more than eager to help. Where would you imagine this store is? Northeast? 50th Street? Maybe Cathedral Hill? It's actually on Lake Street between Lyndale and I-35W. No kidding.

"It's a younger crowd here," says Ken Liss, who runs the cheese shop at Lake Wine & Spirits (404 W. Lake St., Mpls., 612-354-7194.) "We really have a chance to teach people." Liss wasted no time showing off the wares of his cheese shop, beginning with "Would you like to try a $100/pound ham?" (as if there's more than one likely answer to that question). He sliced some razor-thin pata negra, the famous cured Iberico ham that gets its savory flavor from the pigs' diet of acorns. With it we drank the 2004 Vina Cubillo Rioja Crianza ($25) -- a beautiful wine, earthy and smooth. Together, they were magnetic. The wine melded with the richness of the fat, allowing the ham's nuttiness to shine.

Liss advocates not only wine pairings. "Cheese and beer! Cheddar was made for beer," he explains. "And since whiskey is essentially distilled beer, spirits pair nicely, as well. And sake? I did a class on that, sake loves cheese! Condiments -- blue cheese drizzled with honey. Parmigiano Reggiano and aged balsamic vinegar are a match made in heaven." His gourmet salts are another condiment worth consideration. A slice of Delice de Bourgogne ($14.99/lb.), a triple-crème Brie topped with just a few granules of hickory-smoked sea salt, was addictively good.

An extension of the staff's passion will be the classes, scheduled to start this month. Staff members also run the ambitious Uptown Beer Guild, an online forum for beer lovers to rate and discuss beers while keeping up with beer events at the store. They are eyeing similar productions for wine and cheese. It's a store intent on pursuing multiple outlets to share their passion.

The store's inventory is bound to change in the coming months. Liss will expand his cheese selection and Dombrow will try to stock more interesting or little-known bottles, in lieu of another Napa cabernet. They seem intent on delivering new tastes and experiences to their clientele. When pressed for some basic wine/cheese pairing advice, Liss offered direction instead. "You could say 'sheep's milk with reds, goat's milk with tangy whites' but everyone's taste buds are different," he says. "I could give you the classic pairing, and you might think it's the worst thing you've ever had. So the rule is, get a cheese you like, get a wine you like, see if it works. My rule is just to go out and try them." Lake Wine & Spirits is there to lend encouragement.

The churn

The American Swedish Institute is holding its Christmas Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The auditorium will house baked goods for sale by Svea Club. Vendors will offer items such as Swedish clogs, woodcarving pieces, Lucia gowns and more. SWEA-Minnesota will offer several Swedish lunch options, and Idun Guild will serve traditional goodies in the auditorium 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free for ASI members; included with museum admission for nonmembers.

• The Heavy Table team writes about food and drink in the Upper Midwest five days a week, twice a day, at www.heavytable.com.